Orlando Therapist: Understanding Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Orlando Therapist: Understanding Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Written by: Lauran Hahn, LMHC
You find yourself wondering when life turned into a constant battle with your own mind. The racing thoughts are persistent and overwhelming, leaving you on edge, while the continuous tension in your body makes you want to escape from your skin. Sometimes, the past comes rushing back, not just as memories but flooding you with emotions or physical sensations that hit without warning. Your heart races, your chest tightens, and suddenly, you're back fighting for survival even though you know you're safe now. You constantly feel overwhelmed, struggle to keep up with responsibilities and make decisions, and start pulling away from people in your life. You try to push the feelings away, distract yourself, or stay busy, but nothing really brings lasting relief.
If this sounds like you, know that you're not alone.
As an Anxiety Therapist in Orlando, I often speak with people who feel exhausted from trying to hold it all together while their inner world feels like it's falling apart.
Acceptance and commitment therapy Orlando offers support that meets you where you are. At Mindful Living Counseling in Orlando, our team of therapists specializes in ACT therapy for trauma and ACT for anxiety. They are here to help you work through your feelings with kindness, support, and guidance so you can heal in a way that feels right for you and achieve lasting changes.
An Orlando Therapist Helps You Understand What Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Is
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is part of what's called "third-wave" CBT. It's a newer modality of the traditional cognitive-behavioral therapy that brings mindfulness into the mix. ACT blends mindfulness practices with behavior change strategies. Developed in the late 1980s by psychologist Steven C. Hayes, ACT focuses on changing your relationship with your thoughts and feelings so they no longer control your actions. This differs from traditional talk therapies that focus on changing the content of your thoughts.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy gets its name from a key idea: accept what you cannot control and focus on behaviors that improve your life. You can't control your thoughts or feelings, but you can control your behavior. Even the name ACT is pronounced like the word "act" on purpose—because this approach is all about taking action.
What Does This Mean in Real Life?
It means that ACT doesn't ask you to get rid of unpleasant or painful thoughts or emotions. Even though it usually helps reduce anxiety symptoms, that's not the main focus. Instead, ACT helps you open up to whatever you're feeling or thinking, even if it sucks, and build a new relationship with your feelings and thoughts. The one where you can feel grounded and connected, even in the face of discomfort.
Why is This so Powerful?
As humans, we are bound to face challenges and experience emotional pain, regardless of our circumstances in life. Unfortunately, we often handle our pain ineffectively. When we experience distressing thoughts, feelings, and memories, most of us get stuck. We respond in ways that are self-sabotaging in the long run. Instead of fighting your anxiety, sadness, and negative thoughts or trying to shut them down, ACT teaches you, through the use of mindfulness skills, to build the strength to handle pain more effectively, so these symptoms don't stop you from living the life you want. In ACT therapy, healing doesn't mean you'll never feel anxious again. ACT teaches you how to live fully, even when anxiety shows up.
How ACT Helps You Manage Anxiety: A Six-Step Framework from an Orlando Therapist
Acceptance and commitment therapy is about helping people build psychological flexibility or the ability to stay present and open to their emotions, adapt to what life throws their way, and make choices based on their values instead of getting stuck in short-term reactions. This flexibility is especially powerful when working with anxiety, which often feels like a constant battle for control over thoughts, emotions, outcomes, and the unknown. But the more we try to suppress or avoid anxious feelings, the more they grow, creating a cycle that can be difficult to break.
Rather than trying to eliminate anxiety, ACT helps you develop a different relationship with it. At the heart of ACT is the hexaflex—a model outlining six core therapeutic processes that work together to reduce reactivity and help people become more psychologically flexible.
1. Contact with the Present Moment
ACT teaches you to be fully present in the moment instead of overthinking. While we can't control our thoughts or emotions, we can choose how we respond. In ACT, contacting the present moment involves intentionally focusing on your surroundings or inner experience, like your breath or a passing emotion. This kind of mindful awareness helps break unhelpful thought patterns. It reconnects you with the reality of what's happening rather than what you fear might happen.
2. Defusion
Defusion is about becoming mindful of your thoughts and recognizing them without becoming absorbed by them. Instead of getting tangled in anxious thoughts like "I can't handle this" or "Something will go wrong," you learn to observe them with a bit more distance. You learn to see your thoughts for what they are—just words or mental pictures—understanding that they don't define you or control your actions. This helps reduce the emotional power that anxiety often holds.
3. Acceptance
Acceptance invites you to feel your feelings instead of running from them. It means making room for anxiety—not because you want it, but because resisting it tends to make it worse. In ACT, acceptance is an intentional process of allowing difficult thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations to exist without judgment or avoidance. Rather than letting anxiety dictate your choices, you learn to carry it with you while still moving toward the life you want.
4. Self-as-Context
This process helps you see yourself as more than your anxiety. In ACT, this is called "self-as-context" or "pure awareness"—the part of you that notices your thoughts and feelings but isn't defined by them. While your emotions may shift and your thoughts may race, the observing self remains steady. For clients with anxiety, this perspective offers grounding and a sense of inner safety.
5. Values
When you experience anxiety, you learn to stay safe by avoiding discomfort. ACT helps reverse this by helping you reconnect with what truly matters to you. Values are about choosing what's meaningful in different areas of your life and striving to live according to those choices. What kind of parent do you want to be? What brings you a sense of purpose? When you get clear on your values, you gain direction that helps you feel more confident.
6. Committed Action
Taking committed action means following your heart. It's about taking action based on your values, even if anxiety is present. Ask yourself, "What does my heart truly want?" and "What small step can I take today that moves me in that direction?" It's not enough to know your values; you have to start living them. This is where real change happens. In this part of ACT, you might work with an Orlando therapist to set goals, practice new skills, or build habits that support the life you want to create. Over time, you will begin to see that you can feel anxious and still move forward. You can have anxious thoughts and still grow and live a life filled with connection and meaning.
ACT Therapy for Trauma: How ACT Therapy in Orlando Supports Trauma Recovery
Does everyday life feel unsafe, even when you know there's no real danger? When you're feeling overwhelmed day after day, avoiding anything that triggers that pain—memories, emotions, places, even people—can seem like the only option. At the moment, avoidance can feel like relief. But over time, it often leads to more isolation, fear, and disconnection from the things that matter most. If you've experienced trauma, you know how it can take over your thoughts and emotions, making it hard to trust yourself or believe that you're strong enough to face what you're feeling.
Acceptance and commitment therapy gently shift this cycle. One of ACT's foundational practices is acceptance, not in the sense of giving up, but in learning how to make space for painful memories, thoughts, and feelings without needing to run from them. The core idea is that when trauma is met with openness instead of resistance, it loses some of its grip.
Through defusion, anxiety therapy in Orlando encourages you to learn to step back from harsh inner narratives like "I'm broken" or "I'm not safe" and see them for what they are: thoughts, not facts. This creates space to respond with compassion instead of fear.
Trauma can also shatter your sense of identity. You may no longer feel like the person you were "before" and feel disconnected from who you are now. Through the concept of self-as-context, ACT provides a grounding perspective that helps trauma survivors reconnect with a sense of wholeness and stability, even as they continue to heal.
Real-Life Application: What ACT Looks Like in Anxiety Therapy
You figured so far that ACT is a practical and proactive approach to anxiety and trauma treatment. But what does that actually look like in a real session?
Let's say a client comes in struggling with performance anxiety. They describe the racing heart, sweaty palms, and overwhelming fear of judgment that seem to hijack their ability to show up confidently at work or in social settings. Their voice shakes before every presentation, and their mind goes blank during important moments, even when they know the material.
Using ACT, we start by bringing gentle awareness to what's happening in those moments. Maybe it's thoughts like "I'm going to mess this up" or "Everyone will see I'm a failure," along with that familiar tension in the chest or flutter in the stomach. Through mindfulness and defusion skills, the client learns to observe those thoughts and physical sensations without fusing with them or trying to push them away. Instead of treating anxiety as something that has to disappear, we shift the focus toward what really matters to a person, whether it's sharing their ideas, building meaningful connections, or stepping into leadership.
As we clarify those values, ACT encourages small, values-driven steps forward—even when fear is present. That might look like saying yes to leading a meeting, applying for a new role, or simply staying present during a moment of discomfort instead of avoiding it. Sessions often include mindfulness exercises, values clarification, and goal-setting, all carefully tailored to the individual's experience.
Why ACT Works Well with Our Orlando Therapy Approach
ACT is about helping you live a life that actually feels meaningful—even when it sucks sometimes. The idea isn't to get rid of all your pain, stress, or anxiety. Instead, it's about learning to make room for that stuff and still do what matters to you. That's why at Mindful Living Counseling in Orlando, we've found that ACT aligns beautifully with our philosophy of care: therapy that isn't just about symptom relief but about meaningful, long-term change. While we understand how important it is to feel better in the short term, we focus on helping clients build long-term resilience.
We integrate ACT principles throughout our sessions, incorporating mindfulness, acceptance, and values-based action. In addition to ACT, our Orlando therapists are trained in a range of evidence-based modalities like EMDR for trauma processing and somatic therapies to support nervous system regulation. This integrative approach allows us to personalize therapy to meet each client exactly where they are—emotionally, physically, and mentally.
Is ACT Right for You?
We understand that you might be unsure whether ACT is right for you. One of ACT's strengths is its flexibility; it can support people of all ages and backgrounds. Whether you're dealing with anxiety, trauma, grief, relationship challenges, or life transitions, ACT meets you where you are, helping you move forward toward a life aligned with your values.
If you're looking to reconnect with what matters most to you so you can build a life that feels right, even with those challenges around you, ACT could be a great option.
Ready to Start With an Orlando Therapist?
If you're ready to explore whether ACT is right for you, we invite you to reach out. Our Orlando anxiety therapists are here to walk alongside you.
Fill out our New Client Consultation form here.
Once you complete the form, you’ll be invited to schedule a 15-minute phone consultation with one of our Orlando therapists.
Get ready to start healing!
Additional Orlando Therapist Resources
Orlando Anxiety Therapist Shares: How to Handle Life's Curveballs
Orlando Therapist: 5 Things Your Therapist Wants You to Know
Orlando Therapist: Understanding Therapy Jargon
An Anxiety Therapist Shares Everything You Need to Know About Anxiety
Other Therapy Services Offered at Mindful Living Counseling in Orlando
At Mindful Living Counseling we offer a variety of therapy services to address diverse needs! Our options include EMDR therapy, Trauma Therapy, Teen Therapy, Couples Therapy, Eating Disorder Therapy, and toxic relationship therapy. Additionally, we provide guided meditations.
Orlando Therapist Lauran Hahn
Lauran Hahn, LMHC, is the owner of Mindful Living Counseling in Orlando. She specializes in helping clients deal with anxiety and trauma through her EMDR Intensives. Lauran is certified as a Sensorimotor Psychotherapist and an EMDR Therapist, and she is also recognized as an EMDRIA Approved Consultant. Her goal is to help individuals achieve a sense of tranquility in their bodies, mental peace, and stronger connections in their relationships. Additionally, she aids clients in healing from toxic relationships and guides to help them avoid similar situations in the future.